How is the bar spending your money?

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The State Bar of Wisconsin is heading into the end of its 2009 fiscal year with a $50,000 budget deficit – and some bar members want more information on how their money is being spent.

Several members of the Board of Governors, including President-elect Douglas W. Kammer, say they are entitled to more detail on costs for personnel, health care and overhead, which combined are the largest annual expenditures for the organization.

“I’d hate like hell to face my constituents and find out the janitors working for this organization are paid more than the people we’re asking to pay dues,” Kammer said.

At a June 26 meeting, the board approved the 2010 budget, which allots $6.2 million (of a total of $11.8 million) for “personnel and related overhead.”

Kammer, who began his term as president on July 1, was one of a handful of board members who voted against the budget, saying it was not appropriate to vote for a budget “when we don’t know what the big numbers are.”

Kammer said that he has asked for a salary breakdown for the bar’s 94 full-time employees, but has been unable to obtain that information.

He said members would benefit from more transparency, noting that the board “has the ultimate responsibility for running this company.”

Objections Raised

But outgoing Finance Committee Chairman William J. Domina said that his understanding of current bar policies does not allow for an officer to individually review employee salaries. (The committee handles bar policy related to personnel salaries.)

“Frankly, if the president wants to see those numbers, he should bring forth a policy to this bar for discussion and debate,” Domina said.

He noted that health insurance costs jumped about 6 percent for the 2010 budget and employees traditionally get a “3 to 5 percent” annual raise.

Some board members agree the salaries should not be disclosed. Gov. Margaret Wrenn Hickey said that in her experience, the disclosure of staff salaries is unusual and “demoralizing.”

“I worry very much that this would become public information, which I believe would cause us to lose very key staff members,” she said.

But Kammer said that he has been unable to find provisions in the bar’s bylaws, which prohibit him from getting information on staff salaries.

Appalling Situation?

Several board members, including Gov. Wayne A. Arnold, suggested that bar members would be “appalled” if they knew that the president was denied the details about the organization’s largest expenditures without explanation.

Others, like Gov. Jessica J. Tlusty, said that it was important from a business perspective to obtain a better understanding of how the bar spends members’ money.

She noted that small and solo practitioners know exactly how much their firms are spending on overhead, health insurance and employee raises.

Gov. Jeffrey R. Zirgibel suggested that bar leaders need to take a more active role in evaluating expenses, noting that personnel and overhead costs have risen by more than $1 million during the last four years.

“It’s a bad economy and the board should have a say in what’s going up and what’s not going up,” Zirgibel said. “We’ve got to be responsible for these things.”